Speech & Language Assessments for children and young people in London
Speech and language therapists provide assessment and tailored support for people of all ages who have a range of difficulties with communication, eating, or swallowing needs.
Individuals may experience difficulties in a range of areas, such as:
- Understanding language
- Using language (words and sentences)
- Sentence structure
- Semantics (what words mean and how they relate to each other)
- Narrative skills
- Vocabulary
- Situational speaking
- Pragmatics (social use of language)
- Speech sounds
- Stammering
- Voice
Speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) are some of the most common childhood conditions and can occur by themselves or alongside other developmental differences such as autism. For example, 7.5% of children experience Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). DLD is a diagnosis describing a significant ongoing difficulty with talking and/or understanding what other people say.
What is a Speech & Language Therapist assessment?
A comprehensive assessment with one of our highly experienced Speech & Language Therapists can be completed as a standalone assessment or in conjunction with a diagnostic assessment (for example for Autism or ADHD) in order to provide a holistic profile of a young person. We can provide initial, review and second opinion assessments of communication skills.
An assessment with one of our experienced Speech & Language Therapists will involve:
- A discussion of your concerns and priorities
- Reviewing relevant previous reports and any parental questionnaires
- Liaison with school/nursery and relevant NHS clinicians as needed
- Taking a detailed case history
- Comprehensive assessment including diagnosis of any language disorders if appropriate
- Capturing the view of the young person wherever possible
- Discussion of assessment findings, clinical formulation / diagnosis and advice
- Detailed clinical report and recommendations for home and school
- Completion of any onward referrals required
Depending on your child’s age and ability, different assessments will be used. We always take a gold-standard approach following NICE guidelines. Wherever possible, standardised assessment will be employed in order to compare how your child performs in different areas to children of their exact age.
Whilst our therapists are not able to provide ongoing direct support for your child, we will provide a detailed report with recommendations, school liaison, referral to local services or signposting to independent services.
How much does a communication assessment cost?
All communication assessments include a detailed report outlining your child’s communication strengths and weaknesses, school liaison where needed and recommendations for support. Each assessment is unique to your child, so will need to be discussed and planned in advance. A clinician will work with you to figure out what is needed.
You can expect a communication assessment to cost £600. This could be higher if anything additional is required, but this will be discussed and agreed with you in advance.
You can also combine a communication assessment with an ASD, ADHD or learning assessment. See specialist assessment tab for details and prices of those assessments. Please let us know you would like to do this when you enquire with us.
Note: We are able to provide very high quality, gold-standard diagnostic speech and language assessments, but we do not currently have speech and language therapists offering ongoing speech support. We can offer a handful of follow up appointments to guide parents and schools, but cannot undertake long term intervention work. Follow up Speech and Language appointments are charged at £120 per hour.
We will guide you to clinicians who can take on the case for intervention following our assessment.
